Wednesday 9th July Whistler

What a beautiful morning, sun shining and clear skies. We are off to explore Whistler and Blackcomb via the Peak to Peak Chairlifts and any other chairlifts we can find operational. We hopped on the Whistlers Village Gondola heading for Whistlers Mountain Summit. We passed over the bike tracks and saw a female grizzly bear and two cubs. We got off this lift at Roundhouse Lodge which is located at a spectacular 1850 metres above sea level at the top of Whistler Mountain. There was a monument of the Olympic Rings here. We had to walk down to another chairlift called the Peak Chair to reach the highest point on Whistler - the Summit where we found the largest Inuksuk. Wow, there was a spectacular 360 degree view of the whole mountain range, with Ilanaaq (a mascot of the 2010 Olympics )standing tall in the centre. We saw a black bear and a marmot around here. We came back down the Peak Chair lift and had to walk up a windy trail to the Roundhouse Lodge where we boarded the Peak 2 Peak Gondola. This Gondola took almost two years to construct, and is an engineering marvel that connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Spanning 4.4 kms it holds world records for the longest free span between ropeway towers—3.03 kms and highest point above the ground—436 metres . The views were amazing. We walked around Blackcomb Mountain and found another Inuksuk and then took another lift called 7th Heaven which gave us access to the high alpine and glaciated terrain at 2,284 m. There was snow on the peaks and there were hundreds of people skiing on the glacier. There was what looked like a summer school for kids learning how to handle the moguls and do ski jumps.

We went back down the 7th Heaven Lift and had a BBQ lunch at the Rendevous Restaurant. After lunch we hopped on the Solar Coaster Lift then the Wizard Express which took us back into Whistlers' upper village. We walked to the Olympic Plaza and took photos taken around the Olympic Rings. We walked around the village and looked through some souvenir shops. Had tea and a few drinks then back to our hotel.